Wax On, Yank Off

I have three sisters.  You have met my oldest sister through her homemade cough syrup, and you have met my youngest sister through her amazing ability to pull hideous faces, but today I am going to introduce you to the second oldest.  Lets call her Andromeda because she took on the 'beautiful princess' roll in our family.

Andromeda is a fashionista.  She is the type of person that can walk into a Good Will store with $5 and come out looking runway ready.

Now, imagine this type of fashion sense in a teenage girl.  Looking good was her top priority back then and as much as I love her , I would have gladly sacrificed her to the Kraken when we were teenagers.   I'm sure the feeling was mutual since she was stuck with a fashion disaster as a sister.  I was a late bloomer..... a really late bloomer. I didn't care how I looked for a good chunk of my teenage years.  Andromeda once told me that my wardrobe looked like it came from a truck stop gas station. It was a pretty accurate description.

Being seen in public with me was very hard on Andromeda and she did everything she could to try and help me out.  She tried gifts, bribes, embarrassment, anything.  One year for Christmas she gave me an eyebrow waxing kit and I immediately put it in the back of my closet.

Several years later, when I actually started to care about my appearance, I found that waxing kit and decided to give it a try.  The instructions were long gone but I figured I could wing it.  How hard could it be to melt the wax, put it on my eyebrows and pull......

The results were about what you would think, horribly uneven eyebrows covered in 1st degree burns. Needless to say I have avoided waxing ever since.

There is a pin that I keep seeing about homemade hair wax.  At first I ignored it, but darn it if that little pin didn't wear me down.  After it popped up on my pinterest feed for the millionth time I decided to give in and try it out.

Hair Removal Wax with Honey and Sugar (This link will take you to a youtube video that is very helpful)
 You Will Need:
For Eyebrows
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp honey
1 tsp water
non stretchy cotton fabric cut into small pieces
Popsicle stick.

For Legs
2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice

Directions:
mix everything together and put it in the microwave. Monitor it every 15 seconds. Around 20 seconds your mixture will start to bubble.  Take it out immediately and let it cool for 10 minutes.  (for bigger batches heat it on the stove.) Using the Popsicle stick, apply a thin layer of the mixture onto your eyebrows. Place the fabric strip onto the wax and smooth it down with your fingers stroking in the directions of your hair growth. Hold your skin tight with one hand and quickly pull off the fabric in the opposite direction that the hair grows. 

I followed the instructions exactly due to fear of burning myself again, and started with my eyebrows. I mixed my ingredients and put it in the microwave.

 It took about 25 seconds for it to start bubbling. I took it out and stirred it again.  It was very thick.

After it cooled for 10 min I got my Popsicle stick and.... chickened out.  So I stirred it again while trying to pump myself up, brought the Popsicle stick to my eyebrow and...... nope.  It took several tries before I had the guts to apply the honey.  It didn't burn at all, phew!

 I put the fabric over the honey, pulled my skin tight and yanked as fast as I could...... huh, shouldn't that have hurt?  I was expecting a lot of pain, but nope.  It just stung a little.  Pulling a band aid off is more painful then that was.

 The Verdict: My eye brows are pretty blond so it's hard to see the hair on the fabric, but every little hair came out, even the little fuzzy ones that I didn't realize were there.

 I quickly did the rest of my eyebrow, then the other one, and loved how quick and easy and effective it was. Now it was time to get really daring and try my legs.

I mixed all the ingredients and stuck it in the microwave.  This time it took a few minutes until it was bubbling. Since it's winter, my legs were already prepped.  They were nice and hairy and ready to go. 

I slathered on the wax, put on my fabric and gave it a yank. 

The Verdict: Nothing! Not one hair came off. I tried again, and again, and again.  Nothing!  After about 7 attempts all I had to show for my hard work was a red leg and a huge sticky mess all over the bathtub.  My hands were so sticky that I felt like the scene in National Lampoons Christmas Vacation when Clark is sticking to everything, the magazine, the lamp, his wife's hair. 

I was really surprised that it worked so well on my eyebrows but not on my legs, but the ingredients are different between the eyebrow mixture and the leg mixture so that could be why.  I was tempted to make a big batch of the eyebrow wax to try on my legs, but then I looked around at the mess.  I had no desire to scrub myself clean just to make more wax and get all sticky again.  I may revisit this in the future though. 

I know I will never have the fashion sense that Andromeda has, but I have come a long way since my truck stop wardrobe days.